Celebrating Halloween
by sbmcneil
Summary: Two generations of Potter celebrate Halloween. LE/JP HP/GW


**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and his world belong to J. K. Rowling.

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><p><strong>October 31, 1980<strong>

Lily smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she finished applying the heavy black eyeliner. Overall she was pleased with her Egyptian princess costume, Bathilda had helped her make and decorate the dress so it matched a picture she had found in a magazine. Standing she slid the two golden snake armlets that Sirius had lent her onto her arms and settled the simple golden rope headpiece onto her head. Satisfied with her overall look, she hurried downstairs.

Her heart skipped a beat as she watched her husband and his best friend, both resplendent as pirates, as they finished up the decorations for their first Halloween party. There were six carved pumpkins on the front porch – one for each of the Marauders, Lily and Harry. Harry's pumpkin was the littlest. She smiled watching James straighten Harry's little pumpkin so it was directly in front of the two of theirs.

Suddenly he looked up and caught her watching him and he gave her what she called his sexy smile. He whistled at her, "You look gorgeous!"

"Thank you," she smiled as she stepped out onto the porch. He leaned down and kissed her. She ran her hand up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, "You make a very sexy pirate."

He smirked at her before kissing her again, snaking his hands down to rest on her hips. Resting his forehead against hers he whispered, "You are extremely sexy Egyptian princess. Are you sure you still want to have this party? We could have more fun, just the two of us?"

Lily laughed, "I'm sure we could, but we are having a Halloween party."

Looking out over the lawn, she called to Sirius, "I love the graveyard!"

"Thank you," He called back.

She walked among the graveyard that Sirius had set up. Most of the names were names of Hogwarts ghosts. Sirius was standing next to a gravestone that read –

_Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington_

_died 31 October 1492_

Lily laughed, "I'm sure Nick would be glad to hear he is remembered."

"I'm sure," Sirius replied. "You look lovely as always, Lily."

"Thank you," She curtseyed. "I appreciate the loan of the jewelry; it is really perfect for this costume."

Sirius swept into a deep bow, "Of course, my lady. The House of Black is always ready with extremely creepy snake jewelry." He laughed, "Of course, if anyone else in the House of Black knew I lent it to a Muggleborn, they would not be happy, so I had to lend it to you."

"Hello!"

Lily and Sirius turned to see another pirate turning up the walk.

"Remus!" Lily hurried over to greet their friend with a hug. She looked him over carefully; it was less than a week since the full moon. "Are you okay?"

He smiled as he kissed her on the cheek, "I'm fine, Lily. The house looks great."

Turning back to the house she surveyed the effect from the yard. The porch was draped in spider webs with a large, fake spider in the corner. A skeleton lounged in the porch swing while several black cats wound their way around the porch.

"Black cats?" Remus asked.

"I asked James to make them for me," Lily explained. "He transfigured them and I charmed them to stay on the porch."

"Cats." Sirius muttered, "I don't understand why you would want cats."

Lily laughed and linked her arms through both of their, "Come on, Sirius, black cats are classic for Halloween."

"What is that?" Sirius asked. He pointed to a white shape that hung from the large tree in the front yard.

"A ghost," she giggled. "That is what Muggles think ghosts look like. My mum always used to put one up in our yard when we were kids."

Sirius laughed, "Muggles are odd."

"Well, they don't know ghosts are real," she defended. Looking around, she asked, "Is Peter here?"

Remus shook his head, "He wasn't sure if he would be able to make it. He said he had some family thing tonight."

"That's too bad," she said as they entered the house. "I haven't seen him in a while."

The house was decorated on the inside as well as the out. The dining room table was loaded with food and a bar was set up along the back of the room. James and Sirius had fashioned a sarcophagus, complete with a mummy, that lay propped up against one wall. Charmed bats fluttered around the ceiling.

"It looks great, Lils." Remus said looking around.

"Thank you," Lily said proudly. "This is our first big party in the house and I wanted to go all out."

The cry of a baby distracted her, "I'll be back."

* * *

><p>Lily hurried up the stairs to the nursery. She opened the door and made her way over to the crib.<p>

"Hello, angel." Lily lifted the crying baby. He stopped crying as she picked him up. "Let's get a clean nappy, my love."

Expertly changing the baby, Lily sat in the rocking chair her parents had given her and undid her top to feed the baby. She stroked his soft downy head as he nursed. This was one of her favourite times with the baby.

As he stopped suckling, she lifted him up and set him on her lap to burp him. He looked up at her with the beautiful green eyes that they shared. She talked to him softly as she rubbed his back, telling him about the party she could hear starting downstairs. She told him again about his grandparents who had died while she was pregnant with him and his Aunt Petunia who had a baby just a month older than him.

Once he finished nursing, she adjusted her top and changed him again. Reaching into the small wardrobe, she pulled out the little costume she had made for him. It was a fluffy black sleeper with a long tail on the back. She pulled the little hood over his head and fluffed up the little pointy ears. Carrying him into their room, she pulled out her black eyeliner and blacked the end of his nose and then carefully drew little whiskers on either side of his little nose. It must have tickled because he kept wrinkling his nose.

Lifting her little black kitten into her arms, she carried him downstairs. When they arrived downstairs she found that many people had shown up while she was up with the baby. Frank and Alice Longbottom, Marlene McKinnon, Amelia Bones and Gideon Prewitt, as well as their neighbor Bathilda Bagshot were all gathered in the living room eating and drinking. James had turned on the WWN and music was filling the room.

"Alice," Lily greeted her friend, "I thought you were bringing Neville."

Hugging both Lily and baby Harry, Alice said, "He was sniffling a bit so we left him with Frank's mum. I didn't want him to get worse or get this little cutie sick."

"That's too bad," Lily said.

As the two women talked, Sirius swooped down upon them and plucked the baby out of her arms.

He had gotten a few feet away when he yelled, "A kitten!"

Turning to Lily he held up the baby, "You turned my adorable, godson into a kitten? Lily, how could you?"

Lily laughed, "I'm sorry, Sirius. He's a very cute kitten, though, isn't he?"

Sirius looked down at the baby in his arms, "Well, of course he's cute. But a kitten, really?"

Shaking his head, he threaded his way through the crowd with the baby in his arms. Alice watched them leave with concern.

"Is it safe to let him just take the baby?" She asked.

Lily nodded, "Sirius loves that little boy. I wasn't sure when James first suggested Sirius as Harry's godfather, but he is so good with him. He changes diapers and plays with him. I have never seen him as careful as he is with Harry."

"That's great," Alice said. "I'm not so sure about my brother. We named him as Neville's godfather and we haven't seen him since Neville was born."

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><p>"Prongs, mate, you let my little pup get dressed up as a black kitten?"<p>

James tried not to laugh at the look of outrage on Sirius's face. "What can I say? Lily wanted to dress him up as a kitten."

"You didn't think to say, 'he would be cuter as a puppy'?"

Laughing James admitted that he did not. Sirius shook his head and lifted the baby up to his face.

"I'm sorry, Pup, I don't know what your parents were thinking." Sirius said to the baby. Harry watched Sirius with his big green eyes. Sirius laughed and buried his face in the baby's tummy.

Harry reached out and grabbed at Sirius's hat and babbled a bit. Sirius settled Harry back into the crook of his arm. Reaching out Harry managed to grab his little tail that his mother had sown onto his outfit.

He grabbed the tail with both hands and gummed at the tip of the tail. Sirius laughed, "Okay, so you are very cute. Of course that is to be expected of my godson."

"I think that has more to do with the fact that he is my son," James objected.

Sirius waved away James's objection, "Don't be ridiculous. Obviously he takes after me, right Harry?"

Planting a kiss on Harry's head, Sirius took him off to entertain the pretty young witches who had just arrived. Most of them were also fairly recent Hogwarts' graduates and Sirius was hopeful he would find a date or two among them.

* * *

><p>It was early in the morning of November first when the last of the partygoers left, Remus among them. Sirius was curled up as Padfoot, sound asleep on the floor next to Harry's cot.<p>

James smiled as he watched his best mate watching over his little boy. An arm slipped around his waist, James smiled and slid his arm around his wife's shoulders as she leaned into him.

"We really did make a good choice, didn't we, love?" Lily whispered.

"We did," James affirmed. "He really loves that little boy."

"Harry looked so cute in his little outfit," She laughed up at her husband, "How upset was Padfoot?"

"He said he was upset, but even he had to admit Harry was adorable."

Lily smiled, "Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. I can't wait until Harry gets a little older, we can take him out trick-or-treating. I can just see it, can't you? Harry walking around in his little costume with Padfoot right alongside of him."

"Padfoot is already talking about how he gets to choose Harry's costume next year."

Lily laughed as James turned them towards their bedroom. They had no way of knowing the next Halloween was the beginning of many years of darkness for their young son.

* * *

><p><strong>October 31, 1999<strong>

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Andromeda asked.

"Yes," Harry laughed. "I never got to go trick-or-treating when I was young. This is going to be great."

"Okay," she smiled shaking her head. "Have fun and I'll see you back here tomorrow."

Harry nodded and pulled his godson close to him as he Flooed back to his house. Ginny was already there waiting for him.

"Hello, sweetie!" Ginny grabbed the baby out of Harry's arms before she leaned back and kissed Harry hello. Turning her attention back to the baby, she said, "I have the cutest costume for you."

Harry followed his girlfriend as she carried Teddy into his room and set him down on the floor. Sitting on the floor next to the active toddler, Harry watched as Ginny unwrapped the lion costume she had been working on for almost a month now.

"Look, Teddy. You get to be a lion," Ginny said.

"Rawr!" Teddy yelled.

"That's right, little man," Harry said. "Rawr!"

"'ion?" Teddy asked.

"Lion," Harry repeated.

"Hawwy 'ion?"

"No, I'm going to be a knight." Harry said excitedly. "Ginny is going to be a princess."

"Pwincess." Teddy repeated.

It took almost thirty minutes of wrangling, but finally the three of them were ready to head off to the Godric's Hallow Halloween Party. Harry adjusted his chain mail so it was straight and picked up Teddy. He smiled as he looked over at Ginny. She was wearing a blue and gold velvet gown with a blue lace hair covering.

Leaning over he kissed her, "You look amazing."

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "So do you."

Picking up Teddy, the three of them headed outside. It was early evening, so it was still light enough to see. Harry had decorated his house, unknowingly copying some of the same decorations his mother had chosen almost twenty years earlier. He set a large, black pail of sweets up on a table on the porch and with a discrete wave of his wand lit the candles inside the three pumpkins on the porch.

They walked to the street and joined the group of parents and children Harry had befriended at the play park with his godson. Most of the children were Teddy's age or just a bit older and Harry had jumped at the chance to take his godson out for Halloween. Most of the other parents were dressed up as well, several of them carrying torches and pulling wagons for children once they became sleepy. The group walked down the street as the children trick-or-treated.

As they neared the centre of town, they could hear the noise from the street party. Music was filling the evening air as the families congregated in the town square, sharing food and fun. There was an area for the children with pumpkin patches, sweets, and bounce houses as well as a haunted house for the older children.

Harry smiled as he watched Teddy bouncing around with his friends. Ginny slid her arm around him and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Happy Halloween, Harry."

"Thank you, love." He looked around at the celebration. "I'm so glad we did this. The Ministry was trying to have some somber celebration honouring my parents. I bet they'd much rather we be enjoying the holiday than going on about what happened so many years ago."

"I agree," Ginny smiled. "Next year we can have Bill and Fleur bring Victoire out trick-or-treating."

Harry smiled as he looked over at his bouncing little lion and his medieval princess, "That's a great idea. This is definitely the way Halloween should be celebrated."


End file.
